Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Cups

It's been quite some time since I posted a dessert cup recipe. I knew I wanted to do a cookie flavour, but I wasn’t sure if I should make the cheesecake cookie dough flavoured or use crushed cookies. Now I wanted this recipe to be super simple and have as few steps as possible, so I decided to use store-bought cookies, but use chocolate to add richness to the taste.

The cheesecake recipe I use for most dessert cup recipes is much lighter than a regular cheesecake. You may have noticed the ratio of cream cheese and double cream in the recipe is 1:2. Dessert cups are typically light desserts for parties and special occasions, but if you're like me you might randomly eat them as a snack (I promise I’m not weird).

^{*This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more details!*}

Let's get into what ingredients you will need…

For the Biscuit base, you will need…

• Chocolate chip cookies
• Butter or Baking Spread (melted)

For the Cheesecake…

• Soft Cream Cheese (at room temperature)
• Cold Double Cream (Heavy Cream)
• Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
• Milk Chocolate
• Chocolate chip Cookies (I used double chocolate but it’s up to you)

For the Whipped cream…

• Cold Double Cream 
• Icing Sugar
• Vanilla Extract 

For the Decorations…

• Mini Chocolate Chip Sprinkles
• Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

How to make the Biscuit Base:

Start by crushing your biscuits into fine crumbs. This step is pretty simple and can be done with or without a food processor. I usually use a flat-ended rolling pin, it only takes a few minutes. If you are in a hurry or want to double the recipe you can use the food processor to save you some time.

Once you have reached a fine crumb it’s time to add the melted butter. Using a large spatula or spoon mix until all of the cookies are evenly coated in butter. The cookies should almost resemble a wet sand kind of consistency. 

Next, it's time to equally divide the biscuits into each dessert cup. I like using measuring spoons. I usually put around 2-3 heaped teaspoons in each cup. Once you have divided the biscuits, use another dessert cup the same size and gently push the biscuits down to create a flat/level layer, ready for the cheesecake filling.

I almost forgot to mention I usually use 3oz cups in most of my dessert cup recipes. They are a great size because they aren’t too small or too big. To make it easier for you I will list a few links for some of the equipment I use at the bottom of this blog post and my Amazon storefront if you are interested.

Tips For Perfect Dessert Cups

I’ve made several dessert cup recipes within the last year or so. Some worked fantastically, while others not so much and that’s ok because I have learnt so much along the way. Below is a list of tips and tricks to help you create the best dessert cups.

• When crushing the cookies for the biscuit base try crushing them to a fine crumb. If your using a food processor this shouldn’t be a problem. Irregular crumb sizes cause the biscuit layer to not look as smooth.
• The best way to flatten the biscuit base is by using a dessert cup the same size and then gently squishing the crumbs flat.
• When making the cheesecake use room-temperature cream cheese. Cold cream cheese doesn’t blend well, which will then lead to a lumpy cheesecake texture. 
• Add the melted chocolate before adding the double cream otherwise the chocolate will set. You’ll most likely end up with lumps of chocolate in the cheesecake rather than a uniform chocolate colour.
• If it's a hot sunny day leave the double cream in the fridge to ensure it whips up when adding it to the rest of the cheesecake mixture. Warm cream doesn’t hold its shape very well when mixed.

Decorating

To create the whipped cream blob I used the 8W nozzle from the pipe to perfection piping set. It’s a star-shaped nozzle, the edges are slightly curved which makes the design appear more deeper than a regular open star nozzle. If you don’t have the same piping nozzle as me that’s fine, feel free to use any piping nozzle you have available. 

Then to emphasise the cookie flavour place one mini chocolate chip cookie to the right of the whipped cream on every dessert cup. Then sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. The chocolate chip sprinkles I used are from Costco and they are from the brand ‘Cake Angels Baking Sprinkles’ if you are interested. Alternatively, you could chop up a bar of chocolate into small pieces and use them as sprinkles.

Equipment:

If you bake often you might already have a few items already. Here is a list of a few things I used to make these incredible dessert cups…

Dessert Cups

Fondant Rollin Pin 

Piping Nozzle (8W)

Piping Bag

Mason Cash Bowl

Kitchen Scale